Social networks, or social utilities that track and enable connections between members (including people, businesses, and other entities), have become prevalent in recent years. In particular, social networking websites allow members to communicate more efficiently information that is relevant to their friends or other connections in the social network. Social networking websites typically incorporate a system for connecting members to content that is likely to be relevant to each member. For example, members may be grouped according to one or more common attributes in their profiles, such as geographic location, employer, job type, age, music preferences, interests, or other attributes. Members of the social networking website or external parties can then use these groups to customize or target information delivery so that information that might be of particular interest to a group can be communicated to that group.
Advertisers have attempted to leverage this information about members, targeting their ads to members whose interests best align with the ads. For example, a social networking website may display banner ads for a concert to members who include an affinity for the performing band in their website profile and live near a concert venue where that band might be performing. However, these attempts are no different than targeting of ads that exist in many other contexts. Traditional methods of online advertising, such as banner ads that provide a link to an external website, disrupt the user experience of a social networking website. As a result, banner ads remain an ineffective method of targeting users. Advertisers have not yet been able to engage users of social networking websites in a meaningful way to present their advertising message to consumers.